Bethany vs Bettyjean
American parents have registered 101,086 Bethanys since 1880, against 421 Bettyjeans. Bethany is still ahead, with 362 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Bethany Bettyjean
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 111 years in which either name was published, Bethany for 101 years and Bettyjean for 10 years. The lead changed hands 12 times.
- 1915–1920 Bethany ahead
- 1928–1930 Bettyjean ahead
- 1933–2025 Bethany ahead, apart from one short spell
9 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Bethany | Bettyjean | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 101,086 | 421 |
| Most in one year | 3,307 | 21 |
| Babies in 2025 | 362 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 98,000 | 170 |
| Median age today | 34 | 67 |
| Peak year | 1987 | 1924 |
| Best rank | 87th girls | 1,926th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 751st | unranked |
| First recorded | 1915 | 1921 |
| Girls / boys | 100,902 / 184 | 421 / 0 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Bettyjeans alive today are over 67; half the Bethanys are over 34. That is 33 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Bethany and Bettyjean.